Embarcadero is betting its big buy -- financial terms were not disclosed -- will give the company more inroads with channel partners and additional employee expertise on the data modeling front. One thing is certain: The acquisition brings together two complementary technologies that could result in an organization that answers the call for more robust, secure data architecture in the enterprise.

"Data architecture is now the biggest part of Embarcadero's business and represents our significant commitment to the category," said Wayne Williams, CEO at Embarcadero Technologies. "Every aspect of IT -- from application development and business intelligence to security and user experience -- is defined and driven by data architecture.”

A Win-Win

Williams is convinced that adding CA’s ERwin to the mix will help his company drive greater investment, innovation and momentum in what he sees as a critical technology segment. ERwin is the most popular data modeling tool among data professionals and is sold through more than 500 partners in 70-plus countries. In effect, the ERwin acquisition will make Embarcadero the world's leader in data architecture overnight.

Embarcadero ticked off a long list of benefits for its customers. Beyond the investment, innovation and momentum aspects Williams mentioned, the company said its intensified commitment and focus for business functions, R&D and support will drive higher levels of customer service. For existing ERwin customers, the acquisition promises to add a database tools ecosystem that spans data modeling, data management, database development and app development.

Jacob Lamm, executive vice president of Strategy and Corporate Development of CA, expects a smooth transition for ERwin customers and employees.

"We are actively managing our portfolio and investments, and the sale of CA ERwin further sharpens our focus on core capabilities, such as IT Business Management, DevOps and Security across mainframe, distributed, cloud and mobile environments," Lamm said.

Exiting Profitably

We caught up with Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, to get his take on the acquisition. He told us the deal allows Embarcadero to grow and thrive in its area of development specialties and puts money in CA’s pocket and allows the company to tighten its focus on broader IT and systems management.

“Embarcadero is getting a very solid asset in ERwin. It’s a well established business, which makes it a big deal for the company,” King said. “Embarcadero obviously wants to expand its reach into the channel and to enterprise customers that it deals with. This will expand the company’s overall market.”

For CA’s part, King said, the company can profitably exit a market that is increasingly extraneous to its central purpose of systems and IT management. As the enterprise IT market moves more and toward vendors providing end-to-end solutions, specialty players like CA have often been left standing on the sidelines.

“CA has a very strong track record and history as a multi-platform enterprise IT player. Clearly, that’s increasingly CA’s purpose moving ahead,” King said. “The data modeling part of the business is interesting. It’s a critical part of some of its customers' development efforts but it’s not something CA needs to be involved in directly.”

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